Fate Last Snow
by fillory-ronpa
Summary: In the snowy city of Litchhurst Aila and Richard begin their desperate struggle for the Coveted holy grail. The 9 servants fighting and 9 wishes for the grail the only one thing is certain, there will be no easy victory. SYOC is closed and the Holy Grail War has now officially begun.
1. Prologue

**I am making this short update to answer a couple of recurring questions that I have been getting since I posted this story. The first thing I would like to address is about the servant character profiles, a lot of people have asked if I want stats and skills included (I added those down below). The short answer is yes I would. Secondly the classes of servants that I have received so far are, Saber, Archer, Caster, Avenger, and Privateer. I am still accepting both master and servant submissions but I only need 3 more masters to start the story.**

As I stood before a black wrought iron gate leading to a small church situated on a hill overlooking the city of Litchhurst. Snow had just begun to fall early this morning signaling the start of winter. The lights were on in almost every house but not a soul walked the street. Everything was silent except for the wind blowing up the steep hill and cutting right through me.

Why was I hesitating?

The church standing before me was stood tall above the treeline and cast an eyry shadow down with the sun setting behind it. I knew that the overseer was waiting for me inside. I glanced down at my hand and stared at the red mark that branded me as a master. I knew that I had no choice even if I didn't meet the overseer I would still be a master, still be forced to fight for my life.

Taking a deep breath, I stepped forward through the gate. I could feel a calming presence watching me from the tree line. My servant was waiting patiently outside the fence for my return. I turned the handle on the large double doors leading into the church and stepped inside.

Hello fate fans, This is a SYOC story depicting the actions of the Litchhurst holy grail war. I noticed that there is a complete lack of SYOC stories about the Fate series so I decided to write one. For this story I am asking you to submit OC masters and/or servants. The number of characters will directly relate to how many submissions I get. I am aiming for anywhere between 5-9 pairs. Although it would be nice to have the cannon 7 classes I will accept submissions for any class of servant.

The rules around masters are as follows, your master may be from anywhere in the world. And they may have any type of magic cannon or non-cannon. If I feel that the magic is too powerful I will put severe restrictions on it. Finally, absolutely no relation to cannon characters from the fate series.

The rules for servants are. firstly, they may have any class cannon or non-cannon but the class must relate to their legend directly. Servants must be people from history or famous mythology/folklore, no fictional heroes. Finally, you may not use a servant the fate franchise.

Pm only, it keeps their wish a secret form everyone else

Finally, be as descriptive as possible and try to make good three-dimensional characters. Boring or simple characters will probably die first

Master character profile

Name;

Age;

Gender;

Nationality;

Height;

Physical appearance;

Clothing (multiple outfits optional);

Personality;

Likes (at least 5);

Dislikes (at least 5);

Hobbies;

Backstory;

Family;

Wish for the grail;

What type of magic do they use (specific spells optional);

What generation of mage are they;

Views on non-mages;

Are they willing to kill other masters;

How to they react to people who kill masters;

Will they uphold mage law (kill non-mages who see magic);

Will they stop someone else form upholding mage law;

Quotes (To give me an idea what they talk like);

Servant character profile

Name;

Age;

Gender;

Nationality;

Height;

Physical appearance;

Clothing (multiple outfits optional);

Personality;

Likes (at least 5);

Dislikes (at least 5);

hobbies;

Back story;

Wish for the grail;

Class of servant;

Weapon;

Noble phantasm;

Orders they will not willingly carry out;

Opinion on master killers;

Stats, Strength;

Endurance;

Agility;

Luck;

Magic;

Skills;

Quotes (To give me an idea what they talk like);


	2. Introduction

**Okay so I'm going to be honest with you I have had a really hard time choosing a protagonist for this story. So, I decided to write this chapter switching between two perspectives and than I will ask all of you to vote on which one you like best. Rules for voting will be at the bottom of the doc. The SYOC is still very much open and there is room for 4 more masters and 2 servants. The classes that are taken have not changed (Saber, Archer, Caster, Avenger, Privateer, Rider and Berserker). The date is February 1st. (dramatic irony for the one person that knows the significance of that).**

 **Richard.**

The flight from London to Litchhurst was the first time in a very long time Richard had felt truly alone. For as long as he could remember Richard's parents had always loomed over him silently watching him, judging him.

Thinking back, Richard couldn't think of a time he wasn't studying magic, his early childhood was filled to the brim with lessons from privet tutors teaching him everything from the fundamentals of magic, to basic healing magic to more mundane subjects like math and history.

Richard had spent the last few years as a student in the Clock Tower studying to overcome his major shortfall as a magus, his less than average magic circuits. Richard found his solution in alchemy with the perfection of his Boosters, energy drinks that given a temporary mana boost.

With a solution to his natural shortcomings Richard had begun research into perfecting his magecraft and pushing for true independence from his parents. Fate had a different idea. A little over a week ago Richard's entire future was thrown out the window when he found the red seal branding him as a master in the looming Holy Grail War, a was that he had no choice but to fight in.

Richard heard a voice over the intercom, the captain announcing that the plane was about to land. One safely on the ground Richard gathered his things and started walking towards the taxi that waiting for him.

One he stepped out of the Plane Richard instantly regretted his choice of clothing, the simple red and white stripped dress shirt did absolutely nothing to stop the cold from cutting straight through him and the snow soaked through his sneakers. He would have to remember to weatherproof his clothes in the future.

It was about a 15-minute drive from the airport to the house he had rented for the duration of his time here. Richard stared at the box that his parents had given him before he left. The box was made of solid dark wood and decorated with a golden ocean across the top. Inside was he relic that he would use to summon his servant. He had no idea which servant was attached to this relic because his parents had given it to him without any explanation.

After arriving at his rented house instantly began to prepare the ritual circle. Everything else could wait, he needed to find which servant he had before he could make any other preparations for the coming war.

 **Aila**

The first thing Aila did after moving in to her apartment In Litchhurst was prepare a nice warm cup of vanilla tea. She was exhausted from the flight for Finland but she could sleep any time. After a short break, she began clearing out an area on the floor large enough for the summoning. She looked up at the twin swords hanging on her wall, the relic for her servant.

When she learned she was a master in the Holy Grail War she immediately did what ever she could to obtain these swords, the relic belonging to the one man with ambitions as great as her own. She needed to win this war.

Her childhood was good by mage standards, The Clock Tower had never really paid much attention to Finland so she was basically able to live a normal life and practice magecraft at her leisure.

But despite all of that something was, off. When her younger sister was born her parents were relived. She still got the feeling that her parents loved and cared about both of them but they were just too happy to have a second child.

Snapping out of her daze she decided to focus on the task at hand, creating the ritual circle. She measured a precise amount of water into a measuring cup and held her hands above it, Sparks of lighting flew into the cup and the water changed to mercury. Her magecraft was alchemy which allowed her to change any substance into whatever she desired as long as the total mass does not change.

She stood back and looked at the magic circle inspecting it. After making sure everything was perfect she opened her suitcase and started rummaging through it for the piece of paper that had the incantation on it. Standing in front of the circle she spoke the words she had practiced for days on end. She couldn't afford to make any mistakes, too many people were relying on her. The air seemed to radiate with power as she spoke the incantation that would give her a chance to live a full life and save her entire family,

Heed my words, my will creates your body and your sword creates my destiny.

If you heed the grail's call and obey my will and reasoning than answer my summoning.

You who fought an endless battle for the safety of your clan against all opposition.

And defeated every enemy with the ferocity of a dragon hear me.

Come forth from the embrace of death and lend me your strength so that my family my live.

After she spoke those words the air filled with a cloud of smoke. Behind that smoke was the man that would save her future, and change the fate of her cursed family.

 **Richard.**

As Richard stood before the magic circle in front of him he opened the small box that contained his relic. Inside he found a long thick string and a piece of paper. The paper contained the summoning ritual for this servant. The string was long and black, it was obviously well used because it was frayed all down it's length. Placing the relic on the alter he spoke the words that would finally free him and give him true independence from his parents.

Heed my words, my will creates your body and your sword creates my destiny.

If you heed the grail's call and obey my will and reasoning than answer my summoning.

You who Fought monsters and storms to reach the home that you loved so much.

Forsaken by the gods and forgotten by man you never gave up hope.

Come forth, lend me your resilience so that I hay survive this war and Create my own destiny.

When the smoke cleared Richard saw a man standing before him holding a massive black bow with no string. The man looked up and stared directly into Richard's eyes. "Why is it that you have summoned me, what is the wish that you would have the grail grant?"

Richard Thought for a second and than decided to answer truthfully, "What I want from the grail, is something to f*** over my parents."

 **So, like I said in the beginning I would like you to vote on who you think the protagonist should options are, Richard, Alia or both. Feel free to vote through pm or review. I will try to make the next chapter significantly longer than this right now I'm just trying to iron out a few kinks before I can really start.**


	3. Richard's introduction

**This is the first chapter for Richard. Most people who voted for who they wanted to protagonist to be said both or that I needed to introduce the characters better. I plan on uploading Aila's chapter soon so hopefully you all get a better feel for the characters. The SYOC is still open but I only need 1 master. I will accept any submission even from people who already submitted the one condition is that the master must be a villain.**

After completing the summoning Richard took a second to observe the man standing in front of him. He had tanned skin and was about six feet tall with a lean, muscular build. His shoulder length, slightly curly hair and the stubble on his chin gave him a rugged and well traveled look. His eyes were electric blue with the sharp intensity of a soldier and cunning glint of a strategist.

He was wearing full bronze armor over a sleeveless black tunic. In his right hand, he was holding a massive black longbow that had no string and over his back sat a quiver of arrows. Richard guessed that he had summoned an archer from ancient Greece.

Archer looked at Richard silently. He was obviously deep in thought, probably contemplating what Richard had just said. After a little while he spoke, "Is your wish truly so simple? Is your life so meaningless that your only wish is something as simple as sabotage? do not disregard your family they are you only thing that you can never truly lose."

Richard let out a deep sigh, he had gotten lectures like this for his entire life. Archer seemed philosophical and something about the way he spoke gave Richard the impression that he was speaking from experience. Although Archer looked like he was about 25 years old Richard knew that servants could appear as any age. Archer's personality would probably fit a wise old man, someone who had experience a lot of hardship in his life.

After thinking for a little while Richard replied, "It might seem like a meaningless wish to you but that doesn't change the fact that it's my wish. I'm done with my family and I want nothing more than to leave them, forever"

This time Archer let out a sigh. "If that is truly your wish than I have no choice but to accept it. After all what business do I, an ancient hero and world-renowned strategist know."

"I don't have time for your sarcasm Archer. I need to go to the church to register myself as a master as soon as possible." Richard said while turning his back and walking towards the door.

"Do you want me to accompany you master?"

"Stay behind me in spirit form, I don't want to attract too much attention this early on." Richard replied.

Richard stepped outside and started walking through the snowy streets of Litchhurst.

Litchhurst is a city with a population of a little over 100 000. It takes up a very large area for its population mainly because it has almost no large apartments or tall buildings. There are very few tall buildings at as most people there seem to favor living in small detached homes.

If you looked down on Litchhurst from above you would see that it forms a semicircle around a large lake to the east that is currently frozen over completely. To the north there is a large boreal forest that stretches far into the horizon. south and west of Litchhurst is a large open plain with a few trees scattered across it and a highway that ends in Litchhurst.

On top of a hill just to the north stood the church. The church was rectangular in shape with a bell tower in he back. The walls were made of large grey bricks and there was a round stained-glass window depicting a cross.

Richard stood before the wooden double doors and composed himself. After brushing the snow off his shirt, he pushed open one of the doors and walked inside

The church felt smaller on the inside than it seemed from outside. The main room in the church was probably 40 feet by 100 feet long with a very tall open concept roof. There were two rows of pews leading to a large marble alter with a red cloth draped across it.

The entire room was well lit with eight chandeliers hanging from the roof. The floor was covered by a red carpet. Standing in front of the alter was a man wearing black priest robes.

He looked to be in his mid forties. he had black hair that was starting to grey and stern brown eyes. he held his hands behind his back patiently. After giving Richard time to observe his surrounding he spoke in a voice that was surprisingly soft and calm. "I can see by the command seals on your hand that you are a master. Am I correct in assuming that you are here to register yourself as a master?"

"Yes, I am, I have summoned the archer class servant." Richard replied.

"You are the sixth master to announce their servant to me out of the nine the grail summoned. The servants that are currently registered are, Privateer, Caster, Rider, Avenger, Berserker, And your Archer."

"good to know, thank you for the information father." Richard said and than turned towards the door.

"One more thing mage."

"what do you want to know?" Richard asked?

"I want you to ask yourself something very important because this war is not going to be easy. Your life will be on the line every from the second you walk through that door until ether this war ends or you die. So, I want you to ask yourself, is your wish truly worth dying for?" the priest asked.

Richard paused and stood there for a second. His wish, revenge against his parents, was that worth it? He could leave right now, go anywhere in the world and still be free for his parents. He glanced over his shoulder and looked the priest in the eyes. Unable to answer his question Richard just walked away.

After making it outside Richard heard Archer's voice in his head, "how did it go?"

"It went fine, leave it at that" Richard snapped.

"So, it didn't go well, did he tell you anything useful?"

"We are currently sixth pair that have registered out of nine."

As Richard walked he found himself walking beside the frozen lake. There was a large section of ice that was cleared out and probably used for skating. The area was probably 500 feet by 500 feet.

Richard looked out in front of him and saw a person walking towards him. She looked to be about Richard's age and was wearing a white kimono with a red hakama. She had raven black hair tied into a ponytail with a red ribbon in it. She smiled at Richard politely and spoke in a very polite and formal tone, "Hachiman was correct when he told me I would find my first opponent here. Nice to meet you, fellow master"

As she said that a figure appeared behind her, the person was about 5'8" with a slim build and slightly tanned skin. His hair was kept in a high pony tail with a bandana in it. He was wearing a white tunic with a brown overcoat white cloth pants and brown boots. In his right hand was a cutlass.

he spoke in a voice that was surprisingly soft for someone who looked like a pirate, "So that ghost friend of yours told you we would meet them here?" he asked the girl standing beside him.

The girl who seemed like a calm serine person instantly lost her composure, they had obviously had his conversation before.

"For the last time Hachiman is not a damn ghost!" she yelled.

"He is a spiritual entity that communicates to you telepathically from the spirit world." The servant replied sarcastically.

"Hachiman is a divine spirit, if that makes him a ghost than you're a ghost too." She said.

"I kind of am a ghost, I died a long time ago and now I am in the world again as a spirit, haunting you and trying to fulfill a wish that I had in life." the servant said, obviously pushing her buttons.

"shut up already, you are making us look like fools in front of the first other master we have come across" she said.

"keep talking to me like that and you will walk the plank." Privateer said.

"Privateer I am your master and as your master I order you to shut the hell up!" the girl told her servant then turned to face Richard, "Lets try this again, my name is Himiko Tsurugaoka and I am going to kick your ass."

 **That is the end of Richards first chapter hopefully it gave you all a better understanding of his personality and his relationship with Archer. Like I said at the top Aila's chapter is coming next and I still need one master.**


	4. Aila's introduction

**This is Aila's introduction chapter. Just to clear up any confusion her name is Aila not Alia. I was writing Alia throughout the entirety of the first introduction, sorry about that. The SYOC is now officially closed. I have notice a lot of your comments were about people expressing interest in trying to guess the identity of the servants in this grail war. Because of that I will be extra careful to leave hints about characters identities throughout the story.**

 **Archer and Saber will be the easiest to guess because I want you to know the identities of your protagonist. On the other hand there is one servant that will be very difficult to guess because they are a gender-bent character that the grail technically shouldn't be able to summon, so I want you to answer a quick question, would you like me to, 1. tell you the identity of that one servant, 2. tell you witch servant it is so you know gender is not a factor for them, or finally would you like me to not tell you anything and just move foreword knowing that one of these will be very hard to guess?**

February 1st.

As the smoke cleared in Aila's apartment she saw a man standing in front of her. He had a muscular build and he was about 6 feet tall. He was wearing dark plate samurai armor with a blue sleeveless haori. On his head, he was wearing a kabuto with a golden crescent moon piece on the front. His left eye was dark blue and his right eye was covered by a black eye patch.

Aila stood and stared at the samurai standing in front of her. She felt confident in her ability to fight in this war, confident she could win.

After taking a second to collect her thoughts she spoke to him, "Excuse me, is it all right if I address you as Saber?"

he looked like he was thinking carefully about his answer, "In private you may address me as Saber but in public you are to address me as your lord." His voice was very deep and stern.

"Your lord? Um, but I'm the one who summoned you." Aila stuttered

"True but I have fought in wars for longer than you have been alive. Don't misunderstand me I still do value your presence. You are far more versed in the ways of magic than I am, as such I will accept you as my advisor in the coming conflict." Saber sounded arrogant but not outright rude.

Aila stood there for a few seconds not sure how to respond. On one hand he was right, he is an ancient warrior and leader with far more experience then her. On the other hand, she summoned him to achieve her wish. Eventually she decided to listen to him, "That makes sense your right, my lord." Aila replied.

"Now on the topic of magic, what powers do you have?" Saber asked with genuine curiosity.

"I am an alchemist, I can turn one object into something completely different as long as the total mass doesn't change."

"Show me" Saber replied.

Aila looked around the room for something to use. The first thing that caught her eye was a pen on her desk. The desk was basically empty except for a stack of paper and the pen. It was in desperate need of some colour. She held out her hand over the pen and whispered an incantation. Sparks shot out of her hand and the pen was instantly transformed into a small flower.

Saber stood silently for a second, he looked genuinely impressed. Aila guessed that he had very little experience with magic.

"That is very impressive but how can it be used in combat?" Saber asked.

Aila stood dead silent. She desperately thought about an answer that would satisfy Saber. The silence was broken when Saber spoke, "I will leave that to you as my magical advisor to decide."

Aila breathed out a deep sigh of relief.

Saber continued to speak, "I have only one final question for you, what is your wish for the grail?"

Aila paused, she had no reason not to tell him so she did, "my wish for the grail is *******************************************"

 **Meta talk right now, it makes sense for Aila to tell Saber her wish because of their relationship but that doesn't mean that I have to tell you, that's massive spoiler territory.**

Saber stood in silence for at least 30 seconds. Finally, he spoke, "I see, then I will do absolutely everything in my power to make sure you win this war, I swear it on my honor as a saber and as your lord." All arrogance disappeared from Saber, Aila could tell that he meant what he said.

After a second Saber spoke obviously trying to change the conversation topic, "You never told me your name. What shall I address you as?"

"My name is Aila Hautala and I prefer to go by Aila."

"Very well that is acceptable. Now what do you know of the other masters and servants." Saber asked.

"Unfortunately, I don't know very much at all. I know that there is a total of nine pairs competing in this war."

Saber suddenly interrupted Aila, "You do not need to worry about the other servants. None can compare to the might of the One-Eyed-Dragon."

"Okay even if that's true there is still the masters to worry about. Most of them are probably world-renowned magus and on top of that they probably all have wishes for the grail that they would kill to see come true."

"That will be up to you as my magical advisor to deal with." Saber replied.

"Then I will deal with them, my lord."

After saying that Aila let out a deep yawn. She was still exhausted from the flight but she didn't have a moment to spare.

Aila remembered that she still had to register as a master in the Holy Grail War before she could really start talking to Saber about strategy, "My lord, before we can begin preparations for the coming war there is a small formality we need to observe. It is customary for all masters to register themselves to the overseer before the war can officially begin."

"I see, I have no issues with fulfilling your request. Lead the way" Saber said.

"Is it all right with you if you change out of your armor so we don't attract too much unwanted attention."

Without saying a word Saber's armor began to glow white and after a flash of light he was wearing a black and blue kimono.

After going outside Aila and Saber walked down the four flights of stairs from her apartment on the top floor of a small apartment complex. All the building in Litchhurst were short because of a law that was passed around the time the city was built that stated no building can be taller than the church-which is thankfully on a hill-. The further away you got from the church the more relaxed that rule became but Aila's apartment was close to the church.

She Had chosen that location specifically because of it's proximity to the church. She guessed that most people would want to keep the fighting as far away from the church as possible to stay out of the watchful eye of the Overseer.

The overseer is supposed to act as an impartial observer to the happenings of the Holy Grail War but every master knows that they have the power to intervene should they feel the need. With the backing of the church the overseer is not someone that Aila wanted to piss off.

As Aila walked further she found the buildings around her starting to become scarcer as she found herself looking up at the hill leading the church.

The path leading up to the church was made of large stone slabs that were sloped with the hill, the slope was shallow enough that there wasn't any need for stairs.

As they started to ascend the slope Saber started talking, "Do you know anything about this overseer we are about to meet?"

"I only know a little bit. He Oversaw the last grail war in Litchhurst ten years ago. Unfortunately, the few surviving masters didn't say a lot about him. All I know for certain is that he is tightly associated with the church and that he is very good at his job."

As she reached the top of the hill Aila found herself in front of a black wrought iron gate. She turned to Saber and spoke, "It is forbidden for any servant to enter the church so I must ask you to wait outside for me.

"That is fine, I will await your return."

Aila walked through the gate and up to the large double doors leading into the church. Without any hesitation, she pushed them open.

As she walked in she saw a man standing by the alter. She guessed that he was the overseer. She decided to speak first, "Hello, are you the overseer?"

"Yes I am, I assume that you are here to register yourself as a master."

"That is correct, I have summoned the saber class servant."

"Very good you are the final master to register. There is a total of nine servants, they are, Lancer, Assassin, Archer, Berserker, Caster, Rider, Privateer, Avenger, and your Saber. It's a good thing you registered when you did, I was worried the first battle would take place before the war officially began."

"wait there is a battle going on right now" Aila said with obvious surprise.

"Not quite the battle between Privateer and Archer is about to begin."

"where are they?"

"I can't tell you that, my job is to observe not steer you towards your enemies." The overseer stated.

"I guess that makes sense, but If you have nothing else to say I really must go on my way"

"There is just one more thing" the priest said, "This grail war is very dangerous and it is very likely that you will loss your life in this war. So, I will ask you the same thing I have asked every master that has come here, is your wish truly worth your life?"

Aila spoke without any hesitation, "My wish is my life"

The overseer looked like he was expecting her to say something like that he said, "of course, anyone with even a brief knowledge of your family history could probably guess your wish miss Hautala"

Aila stared at him is disbelief for a second before he spoke again, "Don't be too surprised, I am the observer of this war and I find my job is much easier if I understand everyone competing."

After saying goodbye Aila left the church with an uneasy feeling in her stomach. She was starting to regret living so close to the overseer. After she passed back through the gates leading to the church she saw Saber still waiting for her. "You are back sooner than I would have guessed, judging by the look on your face your meeting was troubling."

"Troubling is a good word for it." Aila said. After saying that Ail filled him in on what the overseer said.

After thinking it over for a moment he said, "I see, this war has officially begun and the first battle is about to take place. We should act quickly to ensure that we are viewed as a threat by our enemies." Saber said

"I have no problem with that, I think we should try to find the servants that are currently fighting"

Saber shook his head, "No we should focus on finding masters that are hiding. The fact that there is already a fight means one of two things, the servants are very strong and do not need to worry about being noticed or that their masters are reckless in that case they will probably die soon anyway. In any war, the weak avoid conflict so the weakest servants are probably in hiding right now." Saber finished

Aila nodded her head. She knew he was right but she couldn't shake the feeling that going after servants that were in the open, finishing this war quickly was essential. Despite her reservations she decided to listen to Saber because she couldn't afford to upset him this early. "I understand, my lord." She said.

"That being said, I have no experience tracking magus so I will leave locating our opponents up to you"

Aila looked out towards the city of Litchhurst spread out in front of her. The moon was high in the sky and the streets were completely empty. Part of her wanted to call it a day and go to sleep but she knew she couldn't do that, she simply didn't have time.

 **Right that is the end of Aila's First chapter. I know that all my chapters are really short and I promise I'm working on it. I will definitely try to make a significantly longer chapter for next week. The next chapter is about the battle between Archer and Privateer. Fair warning Privateer's voice will be different because a lot of people said that it wasn't very pirate-like. Finally, if anyone is interested I would really appreciate someone who is good at drawing to help me with the cover image for this story. If you are interested please pm me and I will chat with you about that.**


	5. Privateer and Archer fight

**Okay, the first thing I would like to say is sorry for the late update, I have been working weekends recently so I haven't had as much time to write. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of experience writing fight scenes so a lot of feedback would be appreciated because I want to get good at these sooner rather than later. Also, Privateer's voice has changed to sound more like a pirate** **. Finally, I have an important announcement about a change in my own rules at the bottom of the document.**

Richard stood his ground and looked at the girl who had introduced herself as Himiko Tsurugaoka. He was anxiously waiting for her to make the first move, she did claim she was going to 'kick his ass'.

Richard looked over at Privateer, he knew that as a melee focused hero privateer had an obvious advantage when facing Archer if he could close the distance.

Without saying a word Privateer lunged forward with his cutlass raised, Archer jumped back onto the frozen lake and drew an arrow from his quiver and notched an arrow. Even though his bow had no string when he fired his arrow it shot straight and with incredible speed.

Privateer jumped onto the lake to follow Archer. Privateer dodged out of the way of the arrow easily he started sliding uncontrollably on the smooth ice. After Archer fired several more arrows Privateer kept sliding after every dodge and even fell on his back.

Himiko started yelling from the shore, "What are you doing? I thought water was supposed to be your element!"

Privateer stood up and yelled back "Water be me element not this frozen nonsense"

Richard chuckled to himself, if these two kept fighting each other than he might not have to do anything.

The area of the lake that Archer and Privateer were standing on has cleared off and perfectly smooth, probably because it was so close to the shore it was reserved as a skating rink. The problem with that was that if Archer kept backing up he reach rough ice that was covered in snow meaning Privateer could maneuver properly.

Privateer seemed to be getting more comfortable on the ice and was now dodging Archers arrows a little bit easier.

As Archer stepped back on the rough ice he did something that Richard would never had considered, he grabbed his bow with both hands and whipped Privateer in the face.

Privateer seemed obviously surprised but didn't waste a moment before punching Archer back. Archer took the blow with ease and used his better footing to jump past Privateer so he once again had smooth ice behind him.

Archer spoke to Privateer, "For a sailor you punch like a woman."

That seemed to really piss Privateer off, "Arr, so ye be sayin women can't punch? I'll make ye regret insulting women."

Archer continued his method of back peddling but Privateer was getting better at maneuvering on the ice. Archer wasn't a very dexterous fighter, he was an atypical archer who was more suited to physical contact than dodging especially when compared to his nimble and unarmoured opponent.

Richard looked out nervously at Privateer's master who was standing about twenty feet away from him she looked like she was waiting for something. After a few moments, she sighed loudly and spoke, "Where's your manners? At least introduce yourself first, isn't that common sense? I want to know who I'm defeating"

"Sorry." Richard stuttered out, "My name is Richard Saxon."

"Well Richard, let me make this clear. I plan on wining this war but I hope there will be no hard feelings when Privateer wins."

"I understand what your saying and I hope you don't have any hard feelings when Archer proves you wrong." Richard replied.

She nodded and let out a little chuckle. Richard had a very hard time predicting what she was thinking because she seemed like she could completely change her attitude in the blink of an eye. Despite how hard she was to read Richard didn't get a bad feeling from her.

She spoke again, "Hey don't you dare think I'll go easy on you. If you think you can talk your way out of this you are dead wrong."

As she said that Richard could see Archer jump off the lake an land on the shore about a hundred feet from Richard and Himiko, Privateer quickly followed.

Archer tried to keep his distance but Privateer was faster than him on land. Archer was running as fast as he could towards a nearby group of houses.

Richard Noticed that he was panting. Maintaining a servant in combat was much harder than he had expected. On top of that he had only brought two of his mana boosting energy drinks with him. He just hoped Archer had a plan.

Archer called out to Richard, "Master are you good at healing?"

"Yes, I can heal you why?"

"Okay good" As he said that Archer jumped foreword dropped his bow and used his left hand to catch Privateer's cutlass, it stabbed right through his palm but Archer didn't seem phased by the pain. He used his right hand to grab the hilt of the sword and pulled it out of Privateer's hand.

He threw the sword to the side so they were both standing weaponless. Both combatants were comfortable with hand to hand combat but Privateer seemed to have the upper hand because of Archer's injured hand.

Richard cursed under breath, he could heal Archer but he was only proficient in healing alchemy. He opened his backpack and grabbed a healing balm he had prepared beforehand. It would heal Archer's hand but he would have to apply it by hand.

Richard started jogging towards Archer cautiously. Bam! a fireball landed in front of Richard. He turned to look at Himiko. She was standing with another fireball in her hand, "I don't really like the idea of fighting other masters but that doesn't mean I'm just going to let you heal your servant."

Richard stood there for a second weighing his options. He wasn't really a combat orientated magus so fighting someone who was proficient with fire magic would probably not go well. On the other hand, he did have a few tricks up his sleeve that he could use to stall her.

He quickly glanced around for anything he could use to help him. there was a small garbage can by a light post, a tree surrounded by a little garden and a bench that were all close enough for him to get to.

He quickly sprinted towards the garbage can. He put his hand on it and said a short incantation, light from his hands shot out and wrapped around it, he motioned with his hands and the can shot foreword toward Himiko.

She held out her right hand and wind started to swirl around it. She swatted her hand and a gust of wind knocked the can off course and fell beside her.

Richard muttered to himself, "great wind and fire magic, just what I needed."

Richard ran behind the bench and attempted to flip it over for cover but unfortunately it was bolted to the ground. Another fireball flew towards him and hit the bench lighting a section of it on fire. Himiko sent several gusts of wind towards him and the little flame quickly grew to engulf the whole bench. The only thing Richard could really do was dodge attacks and hope Archer was doing better than he was.

Archer looked out and noticed that both Richard and Himiko were both too occupied to pay much attention to him so he spoke to Privateer, "Did you notice that our masters are not paying any attention to us?"

"Aye, the little lady be having some fun of her own. It be looking like you master ain't doing too well"

Archer laughed, "I wouldn't count him out quite yet. I have met many great warriors in my life and I could see his potential the moment I met him. don't tell him I said that."

"On me sailor's honor I will tell the boy nothing"

"Aren't you a pirate, do you still have any sailor's honor?"

"Arr, ye dirty landlubber. On me Sailor's honor I'll make ye regret saying that."

"Unfortunately, I Don't plan on letting that happen." Archer said as he jumped back towards Privateer's sword. He grabbed it and threw it with all his might towards the lake. After that he grabbed his bow and ran towards Richard.

Himiko had just thrown another fireball towards Richard but Archer got in the way. He was facing Richard and the fireball hit his back seemingly without him feeling a thing. Archer spoke, "I need my bow string."

Richard didn't waste a second, he reached into his backpack and pulled out the small box that contained his relic. He handed the String to Archer.

Archer strung his massive bow with seemingly no effort. He notched an arrow and aimed at Privateer who was on the lake picking up his sword. Richard looked at archer's injured hand and saw blood dripping down the bow, he could only guess the kind of wounds Archer had taken in his life to shrug this off like nothing. Archer begun to speak a short incantation, "This is the bow that could not be strung by any man, save for I who am strong of mind and body. By this arrow, I shall fell my enemy with Apollo's Bow." he shot the arrow and it let out a sonic boom as it left the bow.

Richard and Himiko stared in awe as the arrow flew with enough strength to break the ice underneath it as it flew by. Privateer managed to dodge out of the way of the arrow itself but the shockwave was enough to send him flying ten feet and sent him skidding along the ice

Himiko yelled, "Privateer!" and started running out toward him.

Richard started coughing uncontrollably his mana reserves were dangerously low. he drank one of his boosters but they were only a temporary solution. Plus, if he drank to many of them it could be disastrous for his health. He took the time Himiko was running towards Privateer to heal Archer's hand.

By the time Himiko reached Privateer he was already standing. From a distance, he looked like he had a lot of small wounds from the shockwave and skidding across the ice but there was nothing even close to fatal. As Himiko started healing his wounds he spoke, "Arr, now the sea be by me side again. I knew she'd never abandon me." As he said that Privateer raised both of his hand, as he did water started raising from the break in the ice forming into a large orb in front of Privateer.

Archer stepped foreword and started walking calmly towards the lake. He turned to Richard, "You had better keep your distance master." Richard nodded and moved about a hundred feet from Archer. It looked like Himiko was also moving away from the fight.

Privateer brought both of his hands towards his chest. He shoved them outwords like he was pushing something heavy, when he did the water orb began moving towards Archer while picking up speed.

Archer stood his ground, he notched another arrow and loosed it with the same force as last time. The arrow hit the orb dead center. When the arrow hit it the orb exploded into droplets that stayed suspended in the air.

Privateer made a quick motion with his hands and the water instantly recollected and continued moving towards Archer with the same speed as it was before. The orb crashed into the shore and turned into a wave that knocked Archer off his feet.

Himiko began to speak, "So even a seafarer like Archer can't withstand Privateer's water manipulation, I knew that he was strong bit I didn't know he was that strong."

Richard stood dumbfounded for a second. Seafarer? did she know Archer's identity?

Archer stood up and seemed to be unfazed by the attack. Privateer on the other hand was breathing unusually deeply, the effort of controlling water was apparently exhausting.

Archer drew his bow and aimed at Privateer. Before he shot it he said one word, "Three."

Archer shot the arrow directly at Privateer with the string still on his bow Archer's shots were slower but much stronger.

Privateer quickly dodged out of the way to avoid the shockwave. Just as he landed on the ground Archer appeared behind him, "Two." He said as he launched a second arrow.

Privateer raised his hand and a burst of water came up and pushed him to safety. He landed on the now wet ice panting.

"One." Archer said as he shot the final arrow at Privateer.

Privateer tried to dodge but slipped on the now wet ice. The arrow found its mark and Privateer flew back onto the shore skipped on the sidewalk and crashed into a nearby wall leaving a crater.

Richard took a step foreword but instantly felt light headed and almost fell over. He began coughing uncontrollably. Archer had used way too much of his limited mana. He fumbled around in his backpack and found his second booster. He felt a little better but he knew he couldn't keep up fighting like this for much longer.

Archer also seemed to be effected by Richard's exhaustion. Steadily started waling towards the shore.

Privateer managed to stand up. He was wobbling and seemed barely able to stand. There was a hole massive bloody patch on the right side of his stomach and his entire right hand was bloody. It looked like he had managed to grab the arrow at the last second and redirect it from his heart.

Himiko ran to and stood between Privateer and Archer. She stood her ground and stared straight at Archer.

Archer met her gaze with a thoughtful look. He looked to be trying to decide what to do. They both stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity.

Himiko was the first to speak, "There is no way in hell I am going to let it end like this, I have too much at stake to loss this quickly. If you want to kill Privateer you'll have to get through me first."

Archer turned his head and looked at Richard, "There is one thing I need to know about you before I can truly accept you as my master. I must know exactly the extents you are willing to go to for the sake of the grail. Are you willing to kill for it?"

Richard stood paralyzed in place. Archer's question burned deep into his mind.

Ever since he was young all he ever wanted was freedom from his parents. His entire childhood was predetermined for him. Everything from the magic he studied to the people he met were all determined by his parents. The grail was his chance at freedom. His chance at choosing his own future.

But was his freedom worth Himiko's life? Richard found himself wondering what Himko's wish was. Her wish that she would rather die than loss her chance at obtaining it. Richard knew deep down that he would never have that kind of courage.

Finally, Richard spoke, "Stand down Archer, I don't want you to kill her."

"Very well my master.' Archer said as he lowered his bow. For just a second Richard swore he was a smile creep across Archer's face.

Himiko let out a deep sigh of relief and bowed at Richard, "Thank you very much kind sir. Now if you would excuse me I have an injured Pirate to attend to. I hope we meet again." With that Privateer returned to his spirit form and Himiko quickly left.

Richard started walking towards the house he rented. Thankfully it was only a short walk from where he was. Richard was stumbling from exhaustion as he walked and after what seemed like an eternity his house finally came into sight. The two-story red brick building was a sight for sore eyes.

After fumbling around with the key, he walked up the stairs and straight to bed. He fell asleep the instant he hit the bed.

 **Okay now that this chapter is over I have an announcement to make about a change in my own rules. I have been doing a lot of digging into the nasuverse and I discovered that several of the servants I received are characters in obscure corners that I don't blame the submitters for not noticing. Because I don't want to change my servants around I have decided that servants can not be from any of the animes, fate extra, fate apocrypha, or the English version of Fate Grand Order. Because of that Privateer, Berserker, and maybe more I haven't found can have their identities back. I will try to get my next chapter out soon and I will let all of you know what Aila was doing while this was happening.** **ow what Aila was doing while this was happening.**


	6. A Nightingale's Song

**Okay, welcome to Aila second chapter. I've decided to start getting more poetic with my chapter's names because all of mine up to now have been pretty boring. In this chapter, we are returning to Aila and Saber searching the streets of Litchhurst for other masters. The events of this chapter are happening at the same time as the Archer/Privateer fight.**

February 2nd 12:30 am.

The streets on Litchhurst were completely empty. The only noise was the wind blowing snow through the streets. Aila was walking with Saber following close behind her. Saber had decided to stay in the open to show other master's how confident he was. Aila led the way trying to figure out how to find other masters.

When she decided to search for masters she had thought it would be much easier than it was. The first areas that she searched were the other places that she had wanted to move in to. Unfortunately, no other masters had similar tastes in location. She was just leaving a small subdivision in the center of Litchhurst.

The next place she was going to check was the Litchhurst dock. The dock was closed during the winter because the lake freezes over meaning that it is virtually abandoned right now. Aila didn't really like the location because of how isolated it was and because it felt like too obvious of a choice for someone to set up.

Saber started to talk, "Where are we going now?" his tone was very demanding

"We are going to an abandoned dock because I think there's likely a master is hiding there."

"Very well, we will check this dock but if there is no one there we are done for the night. I am tired of this fruitless search."

"But there is still so much more time tonight." Aila protested.

"Silence my word is final." Saber snapped.

Aila walked silently for several minutes. She didn't regret summoning Saber as her servant but he was hard to deal with. Aila hoped that his fighting skill more than made up for his attitude.

Saber broke his self-imposed silence by asking Aila a question, "If we do find a master there we should probable have a plan for dealing with them and their servant. What do you know about the dock?"

"unfortunately, I don't know a lot. What I know for sure is that it is abandoned right now because the lake is frozen over and it is surrounded by factories that will all be empty right now. We probably won't have to worry about non-mages interfering. I also know that the building is very large; probably one of the largest building in Litchhurst."

"I see, so room to fight another servant won't be an issue. So how will you deal with the other master?"

"Masters are as varied as heroic spirits. I won't know how to deal with them until I see what their capable of."

Saber nodded, he seemed content with that answer.

After several minutes of walking Aila left the residential area of Litchhurst and entered a more industrial section. She was surrounded by large buildings that were eerily silent in the moonlight. She looked out in front of her and saw the Litchhurst dock.

The building itself dwarfed all the factories around it. It was covered by grey siding and had a flat roof. The front had eight large garage doors and a long row of windows. despite being closed right now the asphalt that wrapped around the building snow was plowed into a large pile. All the lights in the building were off Aila saw footprints in the layer of newly fallen snow.

The building was surrounded by a tall fence with only one gate. Aila stood in front of the gate ready to walk in when she heard a calm voice from behind her, "What exactly do you expect to find in there?"

Aila turned around to look at the person who said that. The man looked like he was a little over 20 years old, he had hip length greasy black hair and intense brown eyes. He was wearing a white lab coat, grey shirt and black trousers.

Saber was the first one to speak, "Who are you and what do you want?"

"Forgive my interruption, I am Seymour Nightingale and I am here to give you a friendly warning about the inhabitants of that dock." His politeness seemed genuine to Aila which confused her.

Aila looked down at his hand and noticed that he had command seals. She spoke, "you're a master. Are you the one that lives in the docks?"

"No, I'm not, but I do happen to know a thing or two about the person who does."

Aila looked around, she sensed the presence of a servant near Seymour. He was prepared in case negotiations broke down.

Seymour continued to speak, "Unfortunately I don't know much about the master that lives there, he tends to keep to himself but I do know a little bit about the servant. These docks are home to the Avenger-class servant."

Saber spoke in a demanding tone, "Avenger. That doesn't tell me anything, tell me something useful."

"If you think about it the class of servant tells you a lot. For example, Avenger is a being whose sole motivation in life is vengeance. Because of that it is a safe bet that he is an aggressive fighter and that he will never lose determination in his cause."

Aila spoke, "So are you telling us that we should be afraid of Avenger?"

"Sort of." After saying that Seymour lowered his voice to almost a whisper, "Avenger is a threat but his master is biding his time right now, I have no idea what he is planning."

Saber spoke, "Why are you telling us this, what's your angle"

Seymour replied, "My goal is to eliminate the major threats in this war, there are several masters in this war that will do a lot of amount of harm if they obtain the grail."

"So why aren't you eliminating these so-called threats?"

"Unfortunately, my own combat ability is, lacking."

Saber's clothes glowed white and instantly his armor and weapons materialized, "So what you are saying is that you would be useless in a fight."

The servant that Aila sensed earlier began to move, they didn't materialize but the movement made her uneasy. She spoke to Saber, "My lord, I would advise against attacking him."

Seymour raised one eyebrow in surprise, he found it weird that a master was addressing her servant as "my lord."

Saber turned his head towards Aila, he looked like he was caught off guard. He was not used to people questioning his judgement, "Explain yourself now."

"If we start fighting here it would probably draw Avenger's attention, if he's not already watching. I don't think it's wise to get into a three servant fight this early into the war. I believe we should instead thank Seymour and turn all our attention towards Avenger."

Saber stared at Aila, the look in his eyes made her uncomfortable. He didn't look mad but he didn't seem to like what Aila said. After thinking for a second he turned back to Seymour, "Leave now, I will take your advice under consideration."

Seymour gave a respectful bow and quickly walked away.

After giving him a couple minutes to walk away Saber spoke to Aila, "You had better be right about letting the first master we have come across to just walk away." Aila didn't get the feeling she was being scolded more so that she was being warned. Saber than turned towards the dock, "We have waisted too much time, let us find this Avenger.

Saber walked trough the open gate leading towards the dock and Aila followed closely behind. The moment she entered the parking lot she could magic energy in the air, there was definitely a master here.

Saber grabbed Aila and jumped back as several large metallic object's shot into the ground that they were standing on. Upon closer inspection, they were harpoons. Aila heard a voice form the top of the dock, "Finally done talking with your little friend be ye." The voice was very deep and masculine.

Aila looked up and saw a man standing on the roof, even from 40 feet away Aila could see his yellow eyes that burned with rage. He was wearing a worn black trench coat over a white loose shirt, with a dirty and mangled bronze cross necklace hanging around his neck. In his hand was a long harpoon and there were several more in a case that was slung over his shoulder.

Saber drew both of his swords and started to walk towards Avenger slowly. The look in his eyes was pure excitement, he was completely done with talking."

Avenger spoke, "If war is what ye want, hell is what I'll give!"

Saber replied, "You wish to face the Dragon? Then come and see how useless your efforts are!"

 **That is the end of Aila's first night in Litchhurst. I'm still sorry for the bi-weekly updates but I'm asking you to please have a little patience with me, when September comes I'll have more time to write and I'll get back to weekly updates. All my chapters up to now have been serious or action packed so I've decided that the next chapter will be more of a fluff chapter. I'm not sure if I'm going to make a lot of fluff chapters so I'll have to see how well it is received.**


	7. A better son or daughter

**Hello back to Fate/Last Snow I had originally planned for this to be a fluff chapter but large portions of it ended up being far more serious than I had originally intended. I know that it has been almost a month since I updated but now that I'm in university I have a lot more free time on my hands and I will try to update much more frequently. I would like to thank user ksatria for PMing me to get back to writing, and I would encourage anyone who thinks it has been too long since my last update to do the same. This chapter starts the morning after the Archer and Privateer fight.**

Richard woke up and looked at his alarm clock; it was 9:30 AM. After rolling out of bed and getting dressed, he wondered what he should do today. After bouncing around several ideas in his head. Richard decided to explore the city while it was daytime so there was no risk of being attacked. Richard started getting ready for the day; even though he was confident nothing bad was going to happen he still brought 4 of his mana boosters just in case.

Before he left he spoke with archer for a little while, "I plan on exploring the city for a little while today, I don't think there is going to be any trouble, but I still want you to follow me in spirit form."

Archer nodded his head, "That makes sense, I already surveyed our immediate surroundings so I would recommend you look for strategic locations that are far away instead of looking around our immediate area."

"Okay." as Richard said that Archer shimmered away into spirit form.

Richard let out a deep yawn. Surveying the city could wait; first stop, coffee. He remembered seeing a small café within a short walk of his house so he decided to go there.

Litchhurst was a very different city during the day. Richard had gotten so used to the wide streets being empty and giving off an eerie vibe, it felt a little weird for the same streets to be packed full of people. It almost felt welcoming.

Richard looked at several restaurants. Most of them had patio's that were currently unused. The buildings themselves were a mismatch of wooden, brick and paneled building which Richard guessed had something to do with how old the buildings were.

Most of the people that Richard saw were dressed in surprisingly light winter coats; they were probably used to the cold. Most of them were caucasian so Richard guessed that they probably didn't have a lot of foreign visitors because of Litchhurst's lack of notable tourist landmarks. There were people from most ethnic groups, but they were few and far between.

As Richard was walking, he overheard a conversation two strangers were having. One said, "Did you see that girl, in the cafe?"

The second one replied, "Ya, she was wearing one of those Japanese dress things."

Japanese dress things? Did he mean a Kimono?

Richard heard more people talking about the same thing, "She's just sitting there drinking coffee alone, I guess she's allowed to do that but It's a little weird."

As the café came into view, Richard saw the person everyone was talking about. The familiar white and red kimono caught his eye instantly and as he looked closer he recognized her raven black hair that was pulled into a pony tail, there was no mistaking that the girl sitting there was Himiko Tsurugaoka. He stopped dead in his tracked and stared at her; she was looking directly at him with a similarly surprised face. She spoke first, "Hello Richard. I didn't expect to see you here." She was talking in the same polite and formal tone that she usually started conversations with.

Richard stood dumbfounded for a second; He wasn't sure how to respond. Before he could do anything, she continued to speak, "Come and sit, I have a couple of things I want to talk to you about." Her voice fluctuated a little bit as she said that. Richard could tell that she was forcing herself to seem welcoming.

Richard sat down across from Himiko. The little café they were in was small but decorative; it was made of a dark wood and a row of windows that went three-quarters of the way around the building. The windows started at about Richard's chest and went up a good five feet. The doors were made of the same dark wood, but they were smoothed and polished. Beside the building itself, there was a sloped roof covering a small patio. The patio had almost no protection from the cold, so only Himiko was sitting there.

Richard brushed the snow off a stool across from Himiko and sat down. They sat in complete silence for almost a full minute before a waitress came and asked Richard for his order. After ordering a coffee, he decided that he should start the conversation, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm just sitting down drinking my coffee until now everyone's been avoiding me; to tell the truth it's rather annoying."

Richard sat back and sighed; it was apparent that Himiko didn't do much research into what Litchhurst was like before packing her wardrobe. She probably just assumed that Litchurst was the same as wherever she was from that kimonos are normal to wear. Richard decided to point it out to her, "Do you have any normal clothes to wear?"

Himiko sat up in her seat so fast that she almost fell out, "And what the hell is wrong with what I'm wearing? Why don't you put on some normal damn clothes?"

Richard almost chuckled before he caught himself, "I guess that you're from Japan. If you had considered what Litchurst was like then you would have known that you are probably the only person to have ever worn a Kimono here."

Himiko sat still for a few seconds staring daggers into Richard's eyes. Suddenly she took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly; it seemed like a very practiced movement. After she was done breathing out she started talking in the polite tone she started the conversation with, "Okay fine, you might be right about that, but that doesn't give people the right to stare.

Richard and Himiko sat and chatted for a few minutes. Gradually the group of people that were whispering about Himiko dispersed to continue with their lives. After about a half an hour Richard and Himiko were alone.

Himiko looked around to see if anyone was watching, when she was sure no one was she turned to a random patch of air and nodded her head. Richard saw a shimmer and Privateer appeared beside Himiko.

This time Privateer was wearing the same white cotton pants as before but paired with a simple white tunic and a bandana on his head. Although Himiko offered him a seat; Privateer continued to stand. Out of the corner of his eye, Richard saw a similar shimmer and Archer appeared beside him wearing A black jacket with a white button-down shirt, black slacks with a brown leather belt.

There was silence in the room as Privateer and Archer stared at each other Richard nervously looked back and forth between them. The only person who was calm was Himiko she said, "Relax Privateer I didn't call you over here to fight, there's too many people around. I simply thought it would be polite for you to have a proper conversation with Richard instead of trying to relay messages through me."

Privateer responded, "Arr, that be fine with me."

"And I told you to cut that pirate crap out." Himiko almost yelled. She took another practiced deep breath and turned to talk to Archer, "I don't think we've formally met, I'm Himiko Tsurugaoka, and you're Odysseus."

Richard spat out his coffee. Himiko laughed out loud, "Well if I was unsure before that just confirmed my suspicions, the unstrung black bow and tactical genius gave it away."

Richard cursed under his breath. The fact that Himiko knew Archer's identity didn't sit well with him. Archer had a very stern look and his face. Privateer stood perfectly still watching Archer's every move. The only person making any noise was Himiko who kept talking, "Anyway, like I said I'm Himiko, and I am second in line to the Tsurugaoka family."

Richard spoke, "As you know, I'm Richard, and I'm first in line to the Saxon family."

"Oh first in line, that explains so many things. Now I understand why you're so self-centered, arrogant, and think that you are the only one allowed to get coffee in the morning."

Richard snapped back, "you're just jealous that your second in line to your family."

"You bet your ass I am, at home, it was all Yukemo this, Yukemo that… meanwhile, I get none of the perks of being in an old magus family."

Richard instantly sat forward and glanced around the room, carefully checking if anyone was listening to their conversation. He aggressively whispered to Himiko, "Are you insane what if someone heard you say that."

"I don't care, no one's listening and anyone who was listening doesn't care either." Himiko stopped talking mid sentence, took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly. When she continued talking she was back to speaking in a formal and polite tone, "Okay you're right, I really shouldn't say things like that."

Richard blinked a few times, it was almost impossible to guess what Himiko was thinking about, but he could tell that they had one significant thing in common. They both have a profound contempt for their families, "Oh you think that's bad, do you want to guess when the first time I left my house was? I was 15."

"that's pretty bad, but you should try being a shrine maiden. For literally as long as I can remember I have had to climb up and down the several hundred steppes to my family's shrine just to sit there, pray, and hope to hell that someone somewhere was listening. On top of that, it wasn't until very, very recently that one was. Of all the divine spirits that watch over this land only one could be bothered to answer me when I talk to them."

Richard sat puzzled, she said something last night about a divine spirit, but he had just assumed that she was crazy. On the other hand, it is possible for a talented magus to become a medium for divine spirits and If her family owned a shrine than it's possible that she can commune with divine spirits.

Privateer spoke for the first time all day, "Aye, ye be talking about the ghost."

Himiko whipped her head towards Privateer, "We have spoken about this don't you dare get me started."

Richard interrupted their conversation—he didn't want Himiko to get all fired up again—" So I guess by your clothes and the fact that you family owns a shrine that you're a Shinto shrine maiden."

"You are correct, turns out you do have a brain on your shoulders."

"And the divine spirit you're talking about, you said their name is Hachiman, right?"

"Correct."

"Are you still in communication with Hachiman?"

She rolled her eyes "Like I would tell you that, what do you think I am stupid."

"The fact that you are a medium for divine spirits is way more important than if you are currently talking to one."

"What are you an idiot? What does it matter if I have spoken to a divine spirit before, whether I'm getting real time information is way more important for you to know and plan around." Himiko replied.

Richard slouched back in his chair. He got the feeling that he was not going to be able to get Himiko to answer his question, so he changed the subject, "So, how long have you been walking around Litchhurst getting funny looks for your clothes?"

Himiko Shot him a dirty look, "Ever since I got here and it is incredibly annoying. You think that people who dress as stupidly as they do would understand a practical and traditional choice of clothing." She almost gave a little snort while she said that.

"The clothes that everyone's wearing here are the definition of normal clothes; it makes sense that they find you kimono a little weird."

Himiko stared at him, "You're almost starting to annoy me as much as Privateer."

After which Privateer said, "I anit be that bad ye landlubber."

Himiko continued speaking as if Privateer hadn't said anything, "Seriously how did you ever make any friends walking up to people in coffee shops and calling them weird."

Richard fell silent; she was probably right about that.

Himiko sat still like she was waiting for a comeback from Richard. After several seconds, she let out a genuinely sympathetic sigh, "Look sorry, I know friends are usually a sore topic for magus, I never really had any ether."

"It's fine; I know what you meant."

Richard and Himiko sat for a little while sipping their coffee, although there was complete silence at the table it didn't feel tense any more. It was almost comfortable. Both Archer and Privateer took the first chance they could to disappear into spirit form. Even after his coffee was finished Richard still sat in silence. Eventually, Himiko spoke up, "Look I'm not about to promise anything but I was wondering if I could get your phone number, If I can I want to make sure that the last person left in this war is someone I know I can beat." She said the last bit with a playful smile.

"Don't forget who won last night," Richard said as they exchanged phones to add each others' numbers.

"I'll see you around Richard," Himiko said as she got up and left.

Richard left a little bit after she did. He walked around the city like he planned on in the morning. But after a couple of hours of walking, Richard found that he was too distracted to make any serious progress. He went home at about 3:00 and laid in his bed for a while. He stared at his phone for a while before getting up for food. Richard napped occasionally and wasted time until 10:00 pm when he decided to get up and once again explore the city of Lithhurst at night.

 **Okay, I finally got this chapter out, I hope you liked it, and I did try to make it a little longer than usual because of the long wait. I will diffidently release the next chapter before next Friday, and if I don't feel free to spam message me, I work well with extrinsic motivation. Next chapter we will return to Aila and Saber as they fight Avenger.**


	8. Patient vengeance

**Okay welcome back to Fate/Last Snow. I'm sorry that this chapter was two days late but I still think I got it out in a reasonable amount of time. In this chapter, we are returning to Aila and Saber the night before Richard's most recent chapter. After having a conversation with Seymour Nightingale, Aila found herself face to face with Avenger.**

 **February 2nd 1:00 AM.**

Aila stared at Avenger trying to guess his next move. The first thing that stuck out to her was that he was standing up on a roof. She had a tough time imagining that someone who devoted their whole life to vengeance would keep their distance from an opponent. The other thing that struck her as weird was how composed he was, she expected Avenger to be a fanatic brute like a berserker, but he stood still, he was oddly good at waiting.

Saber on the other hand, was more than ready to fight, He started running full speed towards Avenger who started throwing harpoons with incredible speed and accuracy. Saber didn't have any trouble dodging them as he reached the bottom of the building. Saber glanced around looking for a way up.

On the parking lot by the docks, there were about 15-20 shipping containers that were grouped and loosely stacked about four high, Saber noticed them quickly and started climbing up them.

Avenger reached into his quiver and pulled out a harpoon with a long rope attached to it. He threw it with incredible force, and it stuck into one of the containers on the bottom. He then grabbed the rope with both hands and pulled with all his might making the entire pile start to fall.

Saber didn't even hesitate, instead of climbing the now unstable boxes he pulled out one of his swords and jumped straight towards the building; plunging his sword into the wall. Saber pulled out his other sword and used it to start climbing up the building by stabbing the swords into the wall. Avenger jumped backward and out of Aila's sight.

Aila cursed under her breath and jogged up to the building. She wanted to find her way up onto the roof. The wall of the building was made of grey metal siding that ran from the roof of the building to the floor. Fortunately for Aila, that was perfect.

Aila held her and a couple of inches away from one of the five-inch panels of siding, Sparks started flying from her hands into the panel and as they did it started to glow white. Aila stood like this for almost 30 seconds, whenever she tried to transmit large objects it took a long time. Once the panel was completely white, she touched it with her hands and the panel started to fold into a cylinder, and it started getting rough. Finally, little shoots came out of it. Aila pulled her hands off, and the light dissipated leaving behind a large vine that was perfect for climbing.

Alia stood still for a couple of seconds catching her breath. She had a lot of practice creating vines to climb buildings because she knew a lot of fighting in previous grail wars had taken place on rooftops. She started climbing the vine quickly and carefully, although she was good at climbing these she had never made one this tall before so she was still cautious.

Once Aila scaled her way on top of the roof she climbed onto the roof and landed in the snow. The snow on the roof was around six inches deep, so Aila's feet sunk right into the snow which was unfortunate because her black low heel court shoes were not made for the snow. She noticed that there were four pyramid-shaped skylights on the roof.

The sound of metal clashing against metal snapped Aila back into reality. She looked up and saw Saber standing about twenty feet from Avenger. There were harpoons scattered across the ground and Saber was standing in a defensive pose, Aila guesses that the sound she heard was him deflecting a harpoon.

Saber rushed towards Avenger with both of his swords drawn. Nether of them seemed very interested in conversation. Avenger's eyes still burned with pure anger as expected of an Avenger. Saber was different when Aila looked into his eyes she saw only one thing, pure joy.

Saber fought with incredible ferocity and confidence, every move he made was precise and planned through all in an attempt to get closer to Avenger. On the other hand, Avenger's movements were almost always a show of force, Aila got the sense that he wasn't a trained fighter and that he wasn't used to fighting agile and precise warriors. Avenger did what he could to stay back from Saber, but he seemed to have trouble moving around very quickly. Aila noticed that he always landed on his right leg.

Avenger was looking around the roof for something, but after turning his head towards Aila he stopped and stared at her. A sinister smile crossed his face as he grabbed another harpoon from his pouch and tossed it full force straight towards Aila.

Saber jumped towards the harpoon trying to intercept it, but it was too far from him and going too fast.

Aila froze in place as she saw the harpoon getting closer and closer straight towards her, it seemed to take an eternity flying through the air. The harpoon which seemed to move fast before was taking forever to reach her. Aila saw a confused look on both Avenger and Saber's faces. Something weird was going on.

Saber started running towards Aila, and although his movements still looked quick, he didn't seem to get any closer. On top of that Saber, Avenger and the harpoon seemed to be moving steadily to the left. Just then Aila noticed something that she had been too distracted to notice before. This magic was the work of a servant.

Aila focused and felt the presence of a third servant in the immediate area. She hadn't noticed sooner because she was too focused on Avenger, she looked at the source of the magic and saw two people on a nearby rooftop one were standing, and one was sitting.

She didn't recognize the standing one, but he was obviously a servant. The one that was sitting was wearing a white lab coat and had hip-length black hair. It was Seymour Nightingale.

Aila looked back at the harpoon that was coming towards her and noticed that it was now traveling completely off course and was so low that it was almost touching the ground. Suddenly everything seemed to snap towards AIla at once. The harpoon landed in the snow a couple of feet beside her and Saber was half way between her and Avenger.

Saber stood there for a few seconds looking confused. He looked at Aila and spoke, "You did not tell me you could do that."

"I can't; I don't even know what happened. It was Seymour's servant that helped me there."

"Well when that harpoon was thrown you started moving far away, the roof stretched for miles, and you moved slightly to the side. Whatever power Seymour's servant has it is very impressive."

Saber turned back to Avenger who had just snapped back into focus. He took the opportunity he had while Saber was far away from him to run towards the nearest skylight. While running, he threw a harpoon at it and broke one of the four sides, when he reached it he jumped down into the dock house.

Aila ran to catch up with saber which was walking cautiously towards the opening, He peered and starred down for a while. When Aila caught up to him, he started speaking without turning to her, "If he thinks that running back into home territory will save him he is very mistaken."

"It is dark down there, and he probably knows every hiding spot there is, it's a perfect spot for a ranged fighter."

"If he fled into the cover of dark than he must have had a lot of experience with it in life. I don't think you should come down with me, not only can he get the drop on you from the shadows but Seymour won't be able to save you if he can't see you."

Aila looked towards the roof where Seymour was sitting, he was still there, but the servant that was standing behind him had disappeared. Aila turned back to Saber, "Okay I agree with you, and I'll do what I can to support you form up here, please be careful."

"You don't need to worry about me. After all, it is my job to protect you and I will not fail."

Saber jumped down into the opening. Aila stood back for a second pondering what Saber had said. She shook her head for a second quickly. She had to focus on helping him whatever way possible.

 **Saber.**

After landing on the smooth concrete floor, Saber looked around to get a feel for his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was how dark It was inside. There was very little light coming in from the windows around the side of the building and except the one broken panned the skylights were all covered with snow. There was enough light for Saber to see the outline of objects.

The other thing he noticed was how quiet it was; Saber almost swore he could hear his heart beat. But if he listened closely he could hear the shuffling of feet, coming from two separate places. Suddenly he heard a loud grunt as if someone was lifting something heavy, when he heard it Saber ducked instantly and readied his swords. He managed to dodge out of the way just in time as a harpoon went flying over his head and stuck itself in some unseen object.

Once again Saber heard feet shuffling but Avenger was very careful to move behind objects, so Saber wouldn't be able to see his movement. On top of that, it was hard to track his movement because sound echoed around the building. Saber audibly chuckled to himself; if Avenger was going to hide in the shadows than he would just have to fight the shadows. Saber sheathed one of his swords and gripped the other with two hands. He lunged forward and slashed the faint outline of the nearest object. As his sword cut through it splinters flew out and the object collapsed into several smaller objects; saber concluded it was probably a pile of boxes. He turned and slashed object after object indiscriminately and with rapid speed; He continued to break anything within reach and dodge the occasional harpoon for about a full minute.

 **Aila.**

Aila looked down into the hole and saw that Saber was slashing like a madman in every direction, it did not take her long to figure out that Saber had no idea where Avenger was. She looked around for something she could do to help. She noticed that the skylights were all covered with snow. She walked over to another side of the skylight and held her hands over the snow. Fortunately one of the easiest things to transmute was snow into water; it only took her a couple of seconds to remove all the snow off the first skylight. After that, she ran from light to light until all them were clean and the dock house started filling up with moonlight.

Aila looked down into the dockyard and noticed that there was a small side door facing the gate to the dockyard was wide open, she could have sworn that it was closed earlier. She ran towards the first skylight that Saber was under. While she was running, she noticed that the harpoons that Avenger had thrown on the roof had disappeared.

 **Saber.**

After slashing another random object, Saber noticed that the room suddenly got brighter. He looked up and noticed that the first skylight was clean, he guessed that Aila was probably clearing them off. He looked at the object that he just slashed and could now make out that it was a large boat was in excellent condition –except for the large gash Saber had just put in the front of its wooden hull—and that the door to the cabin was open.

Saber heard a thunderous noise that sounded like a massive crash and the entire building seemed to shake. Saber looked towards the source of it but still couldn't make out much with two skylights clean. After that Saber didn't hear very much at all, not even the sound of footprints.

Saber climbed up onto the boat and stepped inside the cabin. It almost looked like a small apartment. It had a bed with several blankets crumpled up and thrown on it. There was also clothing scattered around the floor. It looked like Avenger's master was living in this boat but he was nowhere to be seen.

Saber heard the sound of Aila calling him, "Saber where are you?"

Saber stepped outside the boat and noticed Aila was standing in the middle of the room. He almost yelled at her, "What are you doing? It's dangerous down here."

"Not anymore, I noticed that a door was open so I checked and there were footprints leading away from the dockyard."

"That doesn't mean anything, that was probably Avenger's master fleeing. There is no guarantee that Avenger isn't here."

"Yes, there is, come look at this."

 **Aila.**

Aila lead Saber through the dockyard towards the open door she stopped several feet before getting there and pointed at the ground. The concrete was split open with cracks coming from a small hole in the center. Aila spoke, "This hole looks like it's about the size of one of Avenger's harpoons so if I had to guess, I'd say Avenger's master used a command seal to force Avenger to leave the field."

Saber cursed out loud. After sighing loudly, he spoke, "If that Is the case then I missed my chance to kill him. The first real opponent in this war ran away like a child and all because of an unseen master too scared to show their face." Saber continued to rant for almost a full minute before stopping to catch his breath, "I am completely done with this entire night. Let's go home we will continue this tomorrow night."

Aila nodded her head, at this point it was about 1:30 In the morning and she had used a lot of her magic energy, so sleep was on the top of her priority list. After the half hour walk back to her house, she went right to bed. Saber sat on the roof in spirit form and kept watch for a couple of hours to make sure they weren't followed home; after he was satisfied to also went to sleep.

 **Right, it's finished. Next chapter we will be returning to Richard as he continues his search around the streets of Litchhurst and tries to figure out more about Himiko and her unknown servant Privateer. I won't promise an exact date for the next chapter because I have a few essays to write in the next two weeks but I will try to get it out soon.**


	9. No More Parades part one

**Okay, first of all, I'm sorry for the late update. I'm not going to make any excuses or promises this time I just hope you're understanding. As far as the story goes this chapter is the first one that I have decided to break up into multiple parts because there was now way I could cover everything in one chapter. The second thing I want to draw attention to is the fact that I am experimenting with my writing for most of this chapter, so I would really appreciate comments on my writing style. Without further ado, in this chapter we are returning to Richard shortly after he got home from the coffee house meeting with Himiko.**

Richard sat in a simple black folding chair and stared blankly at a clock hanging on his wall. It was almost 10:00 pm but Richard didn't feel like standing up quite yet. The room was almost completely silent with the only noise being the ticking of that same clock. Richard found himself looking around the room that he had been living in for two days now. He finally noticed that the walls were painted a faint cream colour; weirdly he hadn't noticed the walls sooner. Glancing up at the clock, Richard watched as it ticked slowly to 10:00. Even after 10:00 had come and gone Richard still just sat, waiting for nothing.

Richard sat thinking about all the productive things that he could have been doing all day. His original plan had been to scout out the city for a few hours in the morning and after that he was going to practice his magecraft for a few hours before taking a short nap, then he would start scouting the city at 10:00 pm looking for other masters and servants.

The first thing that went wrong with that was bumping into Himiko in the morning. Not only did he lose half an hour just talking to her but in hindsight, it's what lead to his current situation. As far as Richard was concerned the meeting with Himiko had gone well—or at least as well as the meeting could have gone. He managed to learn some valuable information and more importantly he honestly enjoyed himself which was unfortunately strange for him.

After the meeting, he tried to explore the city to map out landmarks and strategically important locations. But instead he ended up wandering aimlessly for almost a full hour before giving up and going home. No matter how hard he tried to focus he felt distracted.

After he got back he tried practicing magic; which usually helped clear his mind. Before Richard had entered the Holy Grail War he was trying to teach himself Flash Air. Flash Air is a displacement magecraft that allows the user to connect two points in space; a basic application of flash air is to use it as a form of teleportation. The user can connect a point on a wall to an area behind a locked door and then walk through the wall to reach the area behind the door. The second basic use of flash air—and the one that Richard was most interested in—is that you can use Flash Air to redirect attacks by connecting the area in front of you to another space causing any projectile to enter the first space and leave the second without touching the user.

To practice this Richard had three sharp pencils that he held over his hand. He would connect the air above his hand with the air below it so that when he dropped the pencils they would pass his hand without stabbing him. Usually whenever Richard did this, he successfully redirected one of three pencils.

Unfortunately, today was not normal. When Richard dropped the first pencil it fell and stabbed his hand, undaunted he dropped the second pencil which also pricked him; when he dropped the third pencil it also fell and hit his hand. It was weird for all three to hit him but it wasn't the first time that had happened so he tried again; just like the first time all three hit him. He tried again and again for almost an hour and every single pencil hit him. The hour had passed Richard gave up without succeeding once.

Richard paced around the house frustrated for a few minutes. Eventually, he decided to take a nap and sleep off whatever had him in such a strange mood. After lying in his bead staring at the white painted roof for a few minutes he decided he wasn't going to fall asleep very quickly, so he pulled his phone from out of his pocket. When he looked at it he saw that he had one new message from an unknown number. When he unlocked his phone and looked the message is said,

 _Hi Richard, this is Himiko, I'm_

 _Just messaging you to confirm_

 _that this is your number. Please_

 _reply if this is you._

Richard stared at the simple message for what felt like forever thinking to himself. Richard read the message through again trying to figure out if there was a hidden meaning behind it. He shook his head; it was silly for him to think there was some hidden message, and started typing a reply.

 _Yes, it's me._

Richard found himself starting at the three words he had typed. He felt like he should keep typing but he deleted whatever he wrote past those three words. Eventually, he gave up and just sent the message. Richard put his phone on a small glass coffee table that was beside his bed. A few seconds later the phone buzzed; Richard quickly snatched it and read the message.

 _Okay, thanks._

Richard groaned he wasn't sure how he was supposed to reply to that or if he was supposed to reply at all. Eventually, he gave up and put the phone back down. He was not in the mood to deal with any of his problems right now.

After that Richard did nothing all day, he went back in forth between fruitlessly practicing magic, to napping, to chatting idly with Archer. Until he found himself sitting in his chair staring at the clock that was now a little past 10:15. Archer was standing across the room a little over ten feet away from him. After a few seconds, Archer spoke. "Are you done moping around or should I gave you more time?"

Richard shot him a dirty look, "Didn't you mope on an island for seven years?" Archer didn't dignify that with a response. After one final groan Richard finally faced his responsibilities and stood up. He turned to his side and grabbed his phone, after looking at it he realized he had missed a message from Himiko at 8:00,

 _Can we please meet up tonight?_

 _There is something I want to talk_

 _To you about and it would be hard_

 _To Say it through text._

 _Do you mind meeting me by_

 _the Coffee shop at 10:30?_

Richard cursed to himself and looked at the clock, 10:15. He sent a quick reply to Himiko and started walking towards the coffee shop to meet her.

The moment Richard stepped outside he noticed that it was snowing. The snow was fluttering down with a light breeze that sent the snow winding spiraling down the streets of Litchhurst. Although it was dark outside the streets were warmly lit by streetlights. After stepping out onto the quiet street, Richard began walking slowly. He didn't have a lot of time, but something about the atmosphere of this street made him want to savor the moment.

As Richard walked, he found himself wondering what Himiko wanted to talk about. Despite his situation; despite the holy grail war, Richard was excited for this meeting; despite the fact that part of him knew that it probably wasn't going to go well. He pulled out his phone and reread Himiko's last message; he knew what it said but he found himself reading it a few times.

As Richard rounded the corner he felt disappointed. Part of him didn't want that moment to end; he just wanted to walk forever without worrying about what was coming up next.

Finally, the coffee shop came into view. All the lights were still on inside and the small building was full of people. Richard didn't care about the store. He instantly turned his attention to the patio. Once again there was only a single person on the patio; once again the first thing Richard noticed was the now-familiar white and red kimono.

Once she saw him Himiko stood up and left the patio to meet him. Richard stood perfectly still and waited for her. She walked slowly towards him; she was taking her time. Richard had a hard time trying to guess what she was thinking; he knew that she was almost impossible to read but it was fun to try. She spoke, "You're late."

Without answering her Richard pulled out his phone to check the time; it was 10:32, maybe he should have walked a little faster, "you're right, I am a little bit late."

She stared straight at him for a couple seconds that felt like full minutes. Eventually, she rolled her eyes and continued speaking, "Come with me, as I said in my last text I need to talk to you but we need some privacy first."

Himiko led Richard through a part of the city that he had never visited before. It was obvious that was one of the oldest parts of the city. The buildings were short and made of large stone that ranged in colour from deep brown to light grey. Black iron light posts dotted the street casting a warm light for all to see. The sidewalk they were walking on was covered by a fresh layer of fluffy snow that was still falling calmly.

Richard glanced over at Himiko who was walking beside him. She was looking around at the beautiful landscape that stretched out in front of them. He noticed that a few snowflakes had fallen into her raven black hair. The snowflakes kept their shape perfectly and sat calmly.

Although part of Richard wanted that silence to last forever he knew that Himiko wanted to meet up with him for a reason. After stealing a few more moments Richard spoke, "Now that we're alone what did you want to talk to me about?"

She stopped dead in her tracks and waited a second. After sighing she spoke, "I wanted to know what you've learned about other masters."

Richard thought about that for a second; he decided to tell the truth even though his answer was probably going to disappoint her, "You're the only master that I have met or even heard about. I couldn't even guess the identity of any other masters."

"That's, unfortunate" she replied, "I met one other person, and that person warned me about a different person."

"What do you mean"

"A man came up to me and introduced himself as a master. After that he gave me a vague warning about the presence of a dangerous master."

"Dangerous?"

"The master told me that there are a few masters in this war that will do a lot of harm if they were to win the grail and have their wish granted. He told me the name of one of those masters and that no matter what I do I should avoid that evil master at all costs.

"What was the name?"

"The master I spoke with was named Seymour Nightingale. And he warned me about was a man by the name of Zayid Solomon."

That name hung in the frigid air for a few moments. After a short while, Richard spoke, "Do you think you can trust this Seymour Nightingale?"

"I don't know, he seemed to be a very straightforward person, but I only had a short conversation with him, so it's hard to know everything for sure."

"It sounds like Seymour is probably just using people to eliminate other masters while he pretends to be working for the greater good. Everyone in this war has a wish that they want the grail to grant. No one is in this for the greater good; that just doesn't happen."

"Are you always such an asshole?" Himiko snapped, after that she quickly took her practiced deep breath and continued talking in her formal tone," What I mean by that is why do you just assume everyone is as selfish as you are." She paused again; realizing that what she said wasn't much better. After taking a second to fully compose herself she finished speaking, "Just because everyone you've met have been selfish jerks doesn't mean that everyone you're going to meet is that same way. There are people that care about you; I promise."

Richard just stood and stared at her. Eventually, he decided that the best thing to do was switch to small talk, "If you don't mind me asking, what are your plans for tonight?"

"I planned on walking around the streets and trying to find out as much as I can about other masters. You're welcome to join me if you'd like."

So much of Richard wanted to go with her; to just be around her. Deep down he knew that going with her wasn't a real option. He knew that she wanted to win this war as much as he did and that no matter how much he wanted to he can't trust her. Despite that he was still debating going with her, he wanted to go with her. Eventually, he spoke, "No I'm fine, I'll probably just go home. I don't really have anything specific I want to do tonight."

The expression on Himiko's face changed suddenly but very quickly snapped back to normal. Richard could only guess what she was thinking but before he gave it too much thought she spoke, "I understand. Goodbye Richard."

And with that Himiko turned and walked away. In a few long moments, she was out of Richard's sight. He stood there for what felt like forever. He knew that his perfect moment was going to end eventually but now that it was gone he missed it so much more than he had enjoyed it.

Richard turned around and started to walk home; the only sound was the frigid wind howling and sending a chill down his spine.

 **Hello again, so like I wrote in the opening comments this chapter is one not really complete, this is part one No More Parades which will be a three-part chapter. On a positive note NaNoWriMo 2017 has just begun so I** _ **Plan**_ **on doing a lot more writing that I have been. But like I said at the top I don't really feel comfortable promising anything at this point. See you next time for No More Parades part 2.**


	10. No More parades part two

**Hello and welcome back to Fate/Last Snow. I know it has been a ridiculously long time since I've posted a chapter but I am still writing this thing and have no intentions of discontinuing this story. Without further ado, this is part 2 of No More Parades starting directly after Richard and Himiko parted ways. Also, the night after Aila and Saber encountered Avenger.**

 **Feb 2** **nd** **11:00 pm.**

 **Himiko.**

As she walked away, Himiko looked back at where Richard had been standing only moments ago. He was gone. She chuckled to herself softly _this was going to happen sooner or later_. She was sort of mad at herself for getting her hopes up, she knew better; or at least thought she did.

Himiko noticed that she was shivering a little bit. She could easily warm herself up with a bit of magic, but the shivering felt appropriate, for her it was almost comfortable to be cold. Her home had always been cold and miserable, but –after a very long time—being miserable starts to feel normal, and normal feels comfortable.

Himiko saw a shimmer out of the corner of her eye, as she looked at it Privateer had appeared and was walking beside her. Privateer had a serious look on their face and walked without saying a word. Himiko decided to start the conversation, "why are you so glum all of a sudden?"

Privateer didn't even bother looking at Himiko, "There are several servants out tonight, none are close, but they are undoubtedly there."

"so what? Who the fuck cares." Himiko took a deep breath in—if her grandmother had taught her anything it was how to calm down; didn't change the fact that the old hag was a bitch though—and continued talking, "Listen, we'll deal with that if we bump into one of them. Honestly, I just want to get home; I have a lot on my mind."

"Does it have to do with Richard?"

"Sort of, it would be nice to have someone in this war that we can count on. He strikes me as the sort of person who is looking for an ally as much as I am." Himiko wanted to say more, but she didn't feel like she should.

"That makes sense, but I don't know what I think about him. Most of the men that I interacted with were quite different."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Most of them were assholes. Almost every single man that I had met in my life wanted to further themselves by any means necessary. There was lots of infighting, drinking, and over masculinity."

"And what does Richard strike you as?"

"Richard is not the sort of person that I would have spoken to in my life. He seems like the kind of person who takes their problems too seriously and decided that brooding is the best way to solve his problems."

"wow. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't that."

"You really don't need my opinion on him though; it seems like you made up your mind on him a while ago."

Himiko didn't ask what she meant by that.

The two walked in silence for a while watching the snow hit the ground. The wind had died down, so the streets of Litchhurst were now dark and silent. It was hard to think that a few hours ago the city was loud and full of life. Now there was only the dead silence of the night to fill the frigid air.

 **Aila.**

Aila looked up at the clock and cursed. It was already so late, and she felt like she had wasted the entire day. After her fight with Avenger, she had gotten home at about 2:30 am, and she was exhausted. She promised herself she would only sleep for a few hours, but she accidentally slept in until almost 10:00 am. After that, she had a tough time finding the motivation to do anything.

Despite how much she hated herself for wasting so much time she was still too exhausted to do much of anything. She hadn't slept since she arrived in Litchhurst yesterday morning, so it made sense that she was crashing.

Still, she wanted to do something productive, so she spent a lot of the day practicing her magic and talking with Saber about his plan for dealing with Avenger. It didn't take them long to decide that they wanted to deal with him before he could become a problem, so they decided that they would head back to the dock house tonight.

To her frustration, Aila couldn't do anything except waste the day away. She sat down in a little office chair and spun around a few times. Saber was more composed; he sat patiently. After looking closer Aila noticed the expression on his face, he was excited. Finally, 11:00 pm rolled around, and Aila stood up and grabbed a backpack that she packed earlier that day. The small bag had three little vials of mercury, two one-foot copper rods and some iron scraps that she could use for some miscellaneous alchemy.

Saber stood up with her and equipped his armor with a flash of light, "Let us go" said as he walked towards the door. Aila would have preferred for him to stay in spirit for but she knows that it was better not to argue with him. And besides, during this time of year Litchhurst was empty this late into the night.

 **Richard.**

While Richard walked back home, his thoughts ran wild in his head. Usually walking helped him clear his head but it had the opposite effect right now. The longer he went, the more distracted he got and the worse his mood became. After sighing, he decided he needed to talk to someone, so he called out, "Archer."

The air shimmered in front of Richard and Archer appeared in his casual black jacket and slacks with a white undershirt. "Do you need something?" Archer said in a monotone voice.

"What do you think about working with Himiko?" Richard asked while trying to keep his voice emotionless.

" To give a simple answer, I do like the idea of having someone in this war that doesn't want to kill us, yet. Plus, she seems to be intelligent and willing to fight bravely. The only thing that makes me unsure about her is how rash she is, and how quickly she changes her mind. She could potentially be helpful. On the other hand, I have a tough time trusting her. But I suspect that my opinion doesn't matter to you."

"What does that mean?" Richard snapped.

"Nothing that matters."

Richard didn't reply to that. He stood and listened to the wind blowing. He knew that Archer was right, he does have a bias when it comes to Himiko. Richard wasn't 100% sure what that bias was, but he knows that she wasn't just another master competing for the grail, she was Himiko.

Richard let out a huge sigh and continued to walk home; he knew that he wasn't in any mood to be productive, he just wanted to go to bed and take tomorrow as it comes.

 **Aila.**

Aila and saber were standing in front of the gate to the dock house, The gate itself was slightly open, and there were no visible lights from the building. After telling Aila to take cover behind a concrete parking barrier, Saber walked towards the building cautiously.

Aila watched as Saber walked right up to the front door of the building itself and opened it without any sign of Avenger. Saber disappeared inside the building and after about a minute called for Aila

She walked into the building and saw Saber leaning against a large shipping container. He turned to her and said, "it would appear the no one is here. If I were to guess I'd say that Avenger and his master either decided to change locations or are out wandering the streets of Litchhurst as we speak."

"Well, if another master discovered where I lived the first thing I would do, would be to move somewhere else. That being said, I don't know anything about Avenger's master, so I can't say for sure."

Saber nodded his head, "There is no point wasting the night, we still haven't searched most of the city, and there is still a chance that Avenger stayed close to home."

Aila checked her phone to see the time; it was a little after midnight, she still had time.

 **Richard.**

Richard's apartment finally came into view after a long and silent walk home. He had a terrible feeling in the bottom of his stomach that he couldn't shake. Archer had taken spirit form a little while ago, but Richard could still feel his gaze.

Richard knew that Archer had a point, he needed to take time and think objectively about working with Himiko because at the end of the day she was a master with a wish that she wanted the grail to grant, so was he, but what if she had an actual wish? All he wanted was for some selfish sense of satisfaction but what if Himiko had a wish that was actually important to grant?

Richard groaned audibly as he reached the door to his house. Richard found himself staring at the handle. Why was this bothering him? Before now Richard had thought that he had gotten over childish thoughts, but now he felt something that he hadn't for a very long time, lonely. Richard had been alone for most of his life, but that's not the same thing as feeling lonely, now Richard didn't just feel alone he wanted to be with someone else.

While staring at the door, Richard caught himself smiling. He turned the hell around walked back into the city quickly. "Archer, can you find Himiko?" Richard continued walking without waiting for his reply. For the first time in his life, Richard had the opportunity to choose if he was going to be alone or not and he wasn't going to throw away that chance.

 **Himiko**

Himiko had been walking around aimlessly for almost two hours, and nothing had happened. She wasn't looking for anything; she just needed to walk. The whole time she was going over imaginary conversations with herself, but she wasn't making any progress. Eventually, she stopped and groaned in frustration. She looked around and realized that she was standing on the shore of the Lake. She could see a massive area of newly frozen ice from where Privateer had fought Archer.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a flash of light and Privateer appearing beside her. Himiko didn't even look over when she said, "Well, what do you want" she couldn't hide how tired she was when she said that.

"I be checking on ye. Floating around like a ghost never be a good sign." Privateer answered.

Himiko looked at her and gave half a smile before looking back towards the lake.

"It be clear to me that something be bothering ye. And I thinks I know what it is."

Himiko sighed, "You don't need to say it, you're probably right."

"But do ye want to say it?"

Himiko thought about that for a while. She didn't have to dig very deep to know what was bothering her; she just didn't know what to do about it. She knows that the right thing to do was to move on, this is a grail war after all, and she has a responsibility as a master of the Tsurugaoka clan. On the other hand, if she didn't take this chance, then she knew that she'd regret it for possible her entire life

Himiko Stood up straight and smiled at Privateer, "I know what I have to do."

Privateer smiled back, "In me youth, I had the same look in me eye."

Himiko turned back towards the city of Litchurst and saw a figure standing and staring at her. After looking for a second, she realized that she didn't recognize the short frail-looking man. He was deathly pale and wearing an oversized grey hoodie with blue jeans. In the distance, Himiko felt the presence of a servant.

She straightened up and put on a practiced warm smile, "Hello there, can I help you?"

He spoke with a cold, uninterested voice, "No need for formalities. We won't know each other long enough for any of that to matter.

Just then Himiko saw the flash of a servant appearing and a projectile flying towards her. Privateer intervened and knocked it out of the way with ease. When it hit the ground, Himiko saw that it was a harpoon.

Himiko didn't even try to contain how pissed off she was; she was not in the mood for this, not tonight, "Okay asshole, I tried to be civil, but no. You don't care about enough to humor me for even a second. Didn't anyone teach you some manners? I don't have the time for this so get out of my damn way!"

The other master stood still; it was evident that he wasn't going to let her leave without a fight.

 **Okay, finally part two is done. Once again sorry for the wait but I will get the next chapter out be March 11** **th** **(I think not setting due dates has been part of my problem.) That chapter will serve as the start to the "plot" of Fate/Last Snow, meaning that the introduction is finally finished.**


End file.
